18 ForOregonState.org/Stater N EWS ENROLLMENT “It’s like a stock portfolio —youwant a diversified mix of things,” said Jon Boeckenstedt, vice provost for enrollment management at Oregon State.“You need students from many groups — undergraduates, graduates, professional programs, international, online — and if numbers from one group decline, you need otherprograms to fill the gap.” Recent years provide an example. The pandemic’s campus shutdowns and restricted travel, coupled with changing perceptions of the U.S. abroad, led to a more than 30% decrease in international students enrolling at the university. However, that loss was more than made up for by simultaneous gains in online students. Enrollment in Ecampus, Oregon State’s online education provider, increased more than 40%. The highly ranked Ecampus was well positioned when students around the world suddenly moved en masse to learning online, discovering what they liked — and didn’t like — about the experience. “Today, it’s no longer enough to simply o! er a certain program online,” said Lisa Templeton, vice provost for educational ventures. “Prospective students are looking for quality di! erentiators such as experiential learning opportunities, academic rigor, engagement with faculty and comprehensive support resources.These are hallmarks of Oregon State’s online programs.” In addition to the flexibilityso important to many nontraditional-age students, student parents and others, Ecampus provides first-of-their-kind programs and learning experiences, including the first fullyonline degrees in zoologyand in fisheries andwildlife sciences, as well as in-house-developed virtual labs in biology and chemistry. Oregon State’s significant brand recognition as a large public universitywith high-profile athletics and research programs has also helped bu! er it against enrollment drops and helped it grow, Boeckenstedt said. A bigger brand means a wider and more diverse pool ofstudents.Institutions hardest hit by enrollment declines are typicallysmall,regionallyspecific, single-gender, religiously a" liated or have a narrow curricular focus. Boeckenstedt, a higher education data geek who publishes a detailed blog (highereddatastories.com) on higher education data trends, was drawn to OSU in 2019 because he saw an opportunity to build on the university’s success. During his time, enrollment at the Corvallis campus has remained the largest segment, with new growth coming from the continuedexpansion of OSU-Cascades and from Ecampus.Aquarter of the Class of 2023 were Ecampus students. Even with that success, Boeckenstedt continues to think about what will drive the next large-scale shift in enrollment to make sure Oregon State is prepared. “Right now, the big question is ‘What is the next Ecampus?’” he said. “What is going to make us stronger 15 to 30 years from now? If I knew the answer to that, I’d go out and sell it to others.” ←Students streamed through the Learning Innovation Center on the first day of classes last year. HOW TO BUILD A BIGGER OSU In recent years, a dynamic mix of Ecampus, international and OSU-Cascades students have helped OSU resist declining enrollment trends and keep growing. 35 30 15 30 25 10 35 20 Number of Students (in thousands) 05–06 06–07 07–08 08–09 09–10 10–11 11–12 12–13 13–14 14–15 15–16 16–17 17–18 18–19 19–20 20–21 21–22 22–23 Time (in academic years) Corvallis Corvallis International OSU-Cascades Ecampus IT’S LIKE A STOCK PORTFOLIO YOU WANT A DIVERSIFIED MIX OF THINGS. cont inued
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